We left sunny days behind when we left the Denali Highway and headed south on the Richardson Highway. The coming rain helped us to decide between McCarthy and Valdez – we visited McCarthy 20 years ago, and a muddy drive was not our first choice. So, we skipped the McCarthy road and headed towards Valdez.
As we drove, a light mist turned to a steady drizzle and then to complete soaker streams. Oh well, you know what they say about Alaska and rain. Besides, we live in a desert so this is fun. It is challenging though to change our mindset that rainy days shouldn’t just be for hunkering down with comfort food. It turned out that we had rain much of the three days/nights that we spent in Valdez.
Even in the rain and fog Valdez is beautiful. One of the interesting places we visited was the salmon fish hatchery. The pink salmon return to the hatchery in August by the millions. They pile up in front of the weir at the hatchery and the sea lions feast. Here is a pic of the fun. Note the fins of the fish surrounding the sea lions. Lots of fish!
We hadn’t been in a town in a while, so we decided to stay at the Bear Paw II campground. It is an “adult only” campground and it is on the waterfront. Campsites were small but the campground was quiet. Kids don’t usually bother us, but after a number nights in the silent wilderness, a quieter adult campground had its charms. Charms including Rabbits! As Maddie says, “So many bunnies, so little time!” And, the campground is walking distance to the commercial areas so we were planning to eat at some restaurants.
The restaurants were generally disappointing looking and the one we ate at on the first night was pricey but only fair. The food trucks turned out to be better food and lower cost.
After two nights of Valdez we moved up to the Blueberry campground near Thompson Pass. The food was good (we cooked it), and the views through the fog were great. We hiked around a bit at Thompson Pass and at Worthington Glacier. It was quite foggy at the glacier, so we didn’t get much photography up there. Still, it was good to see what we could.
Next up we will travel the Glenn Highway through Anchorage and on to Seward.
Love the pictures of Valdez. Had to chuckle over getting good food once you went back to cooking. LOVE the picture of Maddie airborne in the field. She is quite the trooper. Great shot at Horseshoe Falls. Since you’ve been gone they have opened 5 great new restaurants, and built a hotel in Kayenta Village. Nah, just kidding, nothing new here but I just remembered I need to go roll the trash and recycle cans back in. LOL Miss you! Enjoy!!